Sascha Flögel

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Projects

Numeric modeling
My research focuses on the use of numerical climate and biogeochemical models (full coupled GCMs, earth system models of intermediate complexity, and biogeochemical box models) in global and regional climate research. Covering geological, present day, and future time scales I investigate the role of global biogeochemical cycling of C, P, O2, ... and the terrestrial hydrological cycle on e.g. marine nutrient inventories, ventilation of the water column. Most of my research is dedicated to times of global warmth, e. g. greenhouse climates where I currently work on the underlying orbital and biogeochemical cycles that lead to the development of Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs). The understanding of processes 'unique' to greenhouse climates is of great interest for insights into past and future climate change. Currently, we're coupling and running biogeochemical box models to a GCM to investigate marine oxygen concentrations during OAEs in the Cretaceous.
Another focal point of my research is the influence of orbital cycles, so-called Milankovitch cycles on Earth's climate and sedimentation patterns during the geological past.

Cold-water corals
A second topic of my current research is the growth and distribution of cold-water corals (e.g. Lophelia pertusa) and their relation to the hydrographic regime of the ambient water masses. Therefore, we use state-of-the-art marine stand-alone observatories to conduct long-term measurements of various physical and biogeochemical parameters in bottom waters and throughout the water column in multiple ocean basins.